I am in hopes of seeing (Harbor) performed because its exquisite score cries out for the addition of visual creativity.-- Fanfare

Palm Trees is very beautiful, with convincing, well-phrased vocal lines that are quite melodious and compelling.--Opera Lively

Mr. Abel is at the forefront of (California’s) musical life.-– American Record Guide

These were some of the critical returns from the March 2016 release of a double-CD package showcasing the three-act chamber opera “Home Is a Harbor” and the song cycle “The Palm Trees Are Restless,” a setting of verses by Los Angeles poet Kate Gale sung wonderfully by Grammy-winning soprano Hila Plitmann.

Abel wrote the libretto for "Home Is a Harbor," which runs 103 minutes and is set variously on California’s Central Coast, in New York City and suburban L.A. The piece is a coming-of-age story about two sisters and a commentary on contemporary American issues – from the vagaries of the art and business worlds to the war in Afghanistan.

The soloists -- sopranos Jamie Chamberlin and Ariel Pisturino, baritones Babatunde Akinboboye and E. Scott Levin, mezzo Janelle DeStefano, tenor Jon Lee Keenan and bass Carver Cossey – all breathed an impressive vitality into their roles. Benjamin Makino, the music director of Opera Memphis and former assistant conductor at Long Beach Opera, led the La Brea Sinfonietta, an ensemble composed of some of the L.A. area’s most outstanding players.

Ms. Plitmann, one of the classical world's most sought-after singers of new music, was accompanied on “Palm Trees" by pianist Tali Tadmor. Ms. Gale’s powerful and provocative poems are drawn from her collection "Echo Light."

The texts for “Harbor” and “Palm Trees” can be found in this booklet, along with essays by Abel and Delos annotator Lindsay Koob. Delos produced excellent video trailers for each -- click here for “Harbor” and here for “Palm Trees.”

Abel's second CD for the Delos label showcases three soprano-piano cycles -- the luminous "Rainbow Songs" and, in newly recorded revised versions, "The Dark-Eyed Chameleon" and the "Five Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke." They are performed by three outstanding Los Angeles musicians: sopranos Jamie Chamberlin and Ariel Pisturino, and pianist Victoria Kirsch. Delos' digital booklet contains the lyrics, liner notes by Lindsay Koob and artist biographies.

“Terrain of the Heart” received quite a few positive notices, which appear on this site’s Reviews & Comments page. Delos put together a striking YouTube trailer for the record that can be accessed here or by visiting the Audio/Video page. The CD, which was released in March 2014, was produced by Mark and Delos director Carol Rosenberger. It was recorded by Matthew Snyder at his studio in Burbank, Ca.

One of the “Rainbow Songs” – “La Sonnambula” -- was a winner of the 2014 Composition Competition held by the American Composers Forum of Los Angeles (ACF-LA). “La Sonnambula” was then premiered by Jamie Chamberlin and Vicki Kirsch at the Boston Court Performing Arts Center in Pasadena. There are three videos documenting performances of music from “Terrain of the Heart.” They can be found on the Audio/Video page.

“THE DREAM GALLERY: SEVEN CALIFORNIA PORTRAITS” is a large-scale song cycle for soloists and chamber orchestra that depicts a group of archetypal Californians and the regions in which they live. Released in 2012 and the product of an intense year-and-a-half of composing, lyric writing and recording, "Gallery" illuminates the state's varied landscape and society, and exposes the fault lines of its characters' internal worlds.

The protagonists declaim, complain, rhapsodize, mourn, boast or simply muse about their lives and some of the unique qualities of their hometowns, which range from the North Coast's youth-centered enclave of Arcata to the materialist hustle-and-bustle of suburban San Diego. Several off-the-map spots, like the hardscrabble oil town of Taft, are visited, as well as iconic places such as Berkeley and Los Angeles.

Abel chose a different singer to assume each role in the cycle’s seven movements. The soloists – Mary Jaeb, David Marshman, Janelle DeStefano, Delaney Gibson, Carver Cossey, Martha Jane Weaver and Tom Zohar -- form a fascinating cross-section of the musical life of Southern California. All of them met admirably the challenge of a composition posing unusual demands and requiring a high degree of characterization.

Sharon Lavery, one of the leading conductors in the Los Angeles area, directed the La Brea Sinfonietta, an ensemble of distinguished Hollywood session players, in the recording of “Gallery” for the Delos label (DE 3418). Her ongoing commitment to the project, along with that of co-producer Jeremy Borum, was crucial to its success.

Delos’ digital bookletprovides much more information about “Gallery.” Mark discusses the piece in depth in a series of YouTube videos that includes sections of the seven movements and photos of the cities described. These clips can be found on the Audio/Video page.

“The Dream Gallery” garnered the Award of Excellence for lyrics from the San Diego-based Global Music Awards in 2012. The piece also received the GMA's Award of Merit for creativity/originality.

SONG FOR KYLE BIELFIELD – "The Benediction"

Kyle Bielfield is a sparkling tenor and 2013 Juilliard graduate hailed by the New York Times as an “outstanding vocal soloist.” Making his mark in the worlds of opera, art song and pop music, Kyle's album "Stopping By" (Delos DE 3445) has won new fans for American art song and performed well in the classical and classical crossover charts.

At his request, Abel wrote a song entitled "The Benediction" for the CD. Both a meditation on and a psychological snapshot of troubled modern America, the song is performed splendidly by Kyle and the fine New York pianist Lachlan Glen. The lyrics can be found here.

Voix des Arts remarked: "Truly a 'crossover' artist, Mr. Abel's interests have extended to a broad range of genres and media, and all of his experience united in 'The Benediction.' Taking the song at face value, Mr. Bielfield allows the music to weave its spell without imposing his own 'effects.' "

"The Benediction" was recorded for a second time in summer 2017 by Hila Plitmann and Tali Tadmor. Their rendition appears on "Time and Distance" (Delos DE 3550).

Abel's first two, self-produced albums are obtainable from CD Baby. They differ from the Delos releases in that the orchestral and keyboard parts were recorded with digitally sampled acoustic instruments. The music was meticulously produced and features excellent vocal performances. Revised versions of the “Five Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke” and “The Dark-Eyed Chameleon” appear on “Terrain of the Heart.”

“JOURNEY LONG, JOURNEY FAR,”was released in 2008. The cover painting, "The Big Sleep" by the late Southern California artist Jen Trute, coincidentally matches some imagery in "Premonition," the third song on the program.

The composer considers the version of “The Dark-Eyed Chameleon” (2007) heard on this CD quite noteworthy due to the outstanding performance by Mary Jaeb, the San Diego-area soprano who also appears on “The Dream Gallery.” Jaeb is highly respected as both a teacher and a concert artist, and her work wonderfully combines technical brilliance and the sincere conveying of deep feelings.

The intense emotion and sense of looming, inescapable tragedy suffusing "Chameleon" bring rock-like ideas to the fore in a number of spots. Abel has written: "Mary instinctively understood the balancing act weaved into the vocal writing, and she spans the piece’s varied stylistic territory with great skill." Her rendition of this wrenching catastrophe-set-to-music makes a fascinating contrast with Jamie Chamberlin’s on “Terrain of the Heart.”

“Gentle Spirit" (2008) is a tribute to Holly Popper, Mark's closest woman friend while in his twenties. The two first met in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1968. At the age of 33, Holly was senselessly killed in a New York City street accident.

An 11-minute tone poem for chamber orchestra, “Gentle Spirit” remains the only entirely instrumental piece Abel has recorded thus far. In his words: "It is not so much a portrait of Holly as an imagining in musical terms of what she might be able to tell us if she was able to return from another world, one where she was able to grow into the fullness of life experience. I wanted to evoke the sense of a visit from a treasured friend who has much to say but can stay for only a little while." The atmospheric music moves between poles of deep poignancy and lighter reminiscences of someone dearly missed. While Holly's spirit seems to materialize from a far-off place in the early measures, the coda is clearly a departure and final farewell.

"The True Believers" (2006) marked the first time Abel employed a male voice, wrote for two singers, and attempted lyric writing in an extended fashion (the piece is in three movements and runs 26 minutes). The soloists are the San Francisco soprano and cabaret singer Katy Stephan, who has appeared with the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, and the powerful East Bay baritone Richard Mix.

“Believers” is not a song cycle but rather a mini-opera of unusual punch, drama and breadth. The text of this near-cinematic piece derives from unsettling global events and Abel's pondering of them during his extensive career as a journalist specializing in foreign news. He writes: "The intention was to depict the mindset of religion-based terrorists -- in particular, their grandiosity, self-absorption and lack of critical thinking -- in a way that might shed some light on how people with at least a degree of sensitivity can be transformed into self-righteous murderers. The work navigates a wide range of dynamics and emotions and stands apart from my other compositions in a number of ways." Stephan and Mix often achieve a gripping intensity through their embrace of the music’s gravitas and ritualistic qualities, while the lyrics remind us of how little has changed in the world since Abel wrote them.

“SONGS OF LIFE, LOVE AND DEATH” appeared in 2006. It’s a compilation of a series of recordings that got under way in 2002 and were made at Abel's cottage-like house in the hills of East Richmond Heights, Ca.

The 14-minute vocal/orchestral elegy "One Long Peace" (2003) is built around a beautiful poem written by Herbert Steinhouse, a longtime friend of Mark's mother, after she took her own life in England in 1991. The music covers a great deal of emotional ground. The composer's description: "It's a sprawling and at times tumultuous work -- qualities, in my opinion, reflective of her life in general -- but is nourished throughout by a strong vein of lyricism, in keeping with her love of beauty and the soaring quality of her humanist spirit. For me, certain moments of this piece remain, many years later, among the most affecting in my output."

The project was Abel's first encounter with Katy Stephan, who brings much power, delicacy and sensitivity to bear in this unique composition. Mark so much admired her artistry that he invited her to record three of the works on these two early CDs.

"Mystic Brave Bird" (2005) is a remembrance of Abel's best friend of three decades, Christian Osborne, a musician of great gifts who played alongside John Lennon in the early 1970s while still in his teens. He died in obscurity in Los Angeles in 2004. Abel says: "Christian was an extremely talented and charismatic guy whose unflagging and often solitary dedication to his art was a great example to anyone seeking to know the elemental truths in life."

The piece's striking, declamatory introduction cycles through tonal fields depicting aspects of Osborne's complex personality before settling into a rock song structure shot through with nostalgic longing. This then dissolves into the pathos of his unexpected passing. Mark wrote most of the words, but several powerful lines are borrowed from individual Osborne songs. The vocal performance by Bay Area mezzo Karen Thomson Hall is excellent throughout.

"Five Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke" (2004) was Abel's first work for piano and voice. He calls it "something of a landmark in that I managed to make every note count to an extent not achieved previously." Katy Stephan's intense performance of this moving and enigmatic piece is marvelous. Two significant changes were made for the later version sung by Ariel Pisturino on “Terrain of the Heart”: The addition of a new middle section for “I Live My Life in Growing Orbits” and a more intricate piano solo for “You Darkness.”

"The Girl Made of Wood: Seven Poems of Pablo Neruda" (2001) is the earliest of the compositions on these CDs. Abel recalls: "The writing of it was for the most part a magical experience, not surprising considering the near hallucinatory qualities of Neruda's gorgeous and moving imagery. In retrospect, the work is probably a bit too long, but in its most poetic moments, 'The Girl' evokes the sense of walking through an enchanted forest."

The soprano is Elizabeth Eshleman, who has soloed with the San Francisco Symphony and the Pacific Mozart Ensemble, and teaches at Mills College in Oakland. In Mark's words: “ 'Lizzie' was extremely generous not only with her wonderful vocal talents but with the time she was willing to spend to realize this cycle."

Poetry is the plough that turns up time, so that the deepest layer, its black earth, is on top. -- Osip Mandelstam